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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Special Program for Imprisoned Veterans; Bush 43 Honors Bush 41 In New Book; Can Cosby Brand Survive Backlash?

Aired November 11, 2014 - 16:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN: Every single generation of veterans throughout our history has been the best that this country has had to offer.

American warriors never bend, never break and never, ever, ever yield.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: That was Vice President Joe Biden honoring our nation's heroes at a Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery earlier today. While most veterans come back to lead healthy and productive lives, it's also true that some do not. Some end up on the fringes of society, or worse. And why we do not want to stigmatize veterans as a whole, by discussing this small group who've slipped between the cracks, we also do not want to ignore their plight. So on this Veterans Day, we visited a special veterans' barracks at a state prison with an exclusive look at a new program designed to help them reclaim their lives when they get out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He took my phone ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where's the gun at ...

TAPPER: After a frantic call to police, Chelsea Carlson is seen running from her home in this dash camp footage. Her husband, Staff Sergeant Robert Carlson, is firing shots out of the upstairs window.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He just gave up.

TAPPER: A neighbor captures Carlson being apprehended ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's my (INAUDIBLE)

TAPPER: And a police interview captures his anguish.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would have wished they would have shot me.

TAPPER: Before these incidents in 2012, the young father had spent 28 months in Iraq and a year in Afghanistan. Today Carlson is serving eight years in prison for assault with a deadly weapon. We often recognize our nation's warriors with medals and ceremonies, but for some in the military, the road home is marked by struggle. In fact, as many as nine percent of recently returning veterans surveyed have been arrested, according to a study by the Journal of Consulting in Clinical Psychology. Flags whip in the wind here in Haynesville, Virginia. But this is not a military base, this is a prison. Where there's a program just for veterans where CNN was granted exclusive access.

75 veterans live in this dormitory. Many serving time for drugs, alcohol, other common crimes. Some of the veterans we spoke with draw a straight line between their service and how they ended up here.

ARCHIE TYLER, INCARCERATED VETERAN: I myself suffer once in a while from a little bit of posttraumatic stress.

TAPPER: Archie Tyler says he served in the Army for five years, including in Afghanistan. He told us he turned to drugs to help rid his mind of what he saw there.

(on camera): You took those drugs to try to ...

TYLER: Just to deal with some of the sites, some of the stuff I've seen over there.

TAPPER (voice over): Jimmy Jackson is here because he forged checks after being honorably discharged from the Marines. He says he didn't know what to do next.

JIMMY JACKSON, INCARCERATED VETERAN: And I was struggling really bad and I needed the money right then and there.

TAPPER (on camera): Just for rent?

JACKSON: Just to live.

TAPPER: The food.

JACKSON: Just to live.

TAPPER (voice over): These veterans say they did not know about the resources available to them to help them cope, to help learn how to transfer their skills.

JACKSON: I got out blind not knowing that that was all of that was out there, I didn't know that the VA could assist you with housing, they could assist you with medical, dental. Anything like that. I didn't know any of that. I just got out and figured that was the end of my service. I know now that I can go to the VA hospitals and get medical and dental treatment. I know that they will help me with employment.

TYLER: Being here, actually, kind of - you get backed some of those military values, now actually I'm on the right track as far as - I want the right thing for myself and trying to get myself together. (APPLAUSE)

TAPPER: So, here at the Haynesville correctional center veterans are offered one of the first programs of its kids, offering them a benefits coordinator, along with anger management courses, substance abuse counseling and job training.

CHARLES HENRY ALLEN, SR. WARDEN, HAYNESVILLE CORRECTIONAL CENTER: All these guys are going to return in some short measure to our communities and we want them to be prepared.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How many (INAUDIBLE) believe themselves to be a leader? Raise your hand.

TAPPER: The veterans here say peer workshops, such as this one, help set their dormitory apart from the rest of the prison community.

DONALD YOUNG, INCARCERATED VETERAN: I got a college degree since I've been here. And I've done really well. The guys tended to be supportive of that, whereas before, they were anywhere from indifferent to mocked it and would get in the way of it.

RASHEEDAH MARTIN, VETERANS COUNSELOR, HAYNESVILLE CORRECTIONAL FACILITY: Like a family, a brotherhood in there.

TAPPER: Rasheedah (ph) Martin is a counselor here. She says the biggest challenge facing this group is post-traumatic stress.

(on camera): They didn't know that there were programs to help them with mental health issues or housing. But you take care of that here and you make sure they know?

MARTIN: Yes. Yes. We - as a counselor, I reach out to get them the resources they need to transition back into society.

TAPPER (voice over): The selflessness these offenders learned in service also makes peer mentorship one of the program's biggest assets.

TYLER: Always have enough open mind to learn from ...

YOUNG: A vet can help. A vet like nobody else can. We understand one another.

TAPPER: It's a place where a mix of older offenders, such as Desert Storm veteran Donald Young and younger veterans, such as Jorge Aguirre can share common grounds.

JORGE AGUIRRE, INCARCERATED VETERAN: We put ourselves a little bit higher to hopefully make the rest of the compound, you know, come on, bring up their game.

TAPPER: The program is too new to assess fully. Early numbers suggest the rate of offenders returning to prison is much lower than the average. Of course, these men still have an uphill battle for acceptance once they leave the prison grounds. (on camera): What do you want people to know about veterans and about veterans who have had some tough times?

YOUNG: I'd like to tell them to take a chance on us. We tend to rise above.

TAPPER: There are veterans coming back now. What should they know?

AGUIRRE: Don't be too proud to go ask for help. We laid down our lives for the country. There's people out there that are willing to do the same for you and for your health and for your betterment.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: And one of the veterans that you just met, Archie Tyler, was released from prison yesterday. Happy Veterans Day, Archie, welcome home, and thank you for your service.

Coming up next, the president's love story. George W. Bush talks about his relationship with his father in a funny, touching tribute and he explains why he didn't want to wait to write his father's biography.

Plus, Bill Cosby learns the hard way that the Internet can be a tough place. How his latest PR move completely backfired. Ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. In our "Politics Lead," a new look at the presidency of George H.W. Bush as seen through the eyes of his son. Today, George W. Bush released his book, "41, A Portrait Of My Father," a tribute from one veteran to another on this Veteran's Day.

It's not the only admiration shown for Bush 41. As you know, Bush 43 has become an avid painter and this week, W unveiled this portrait showing him and his father side by side. Check out the family resemblance. Not bad.

CNN national correspondent, Suzanne Malveaux, was there for today's book unveiling and she joins live in College Station, Texas -- Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Jake, since you and I covered George W. Bush, he remarkably appears very much the same. Of course, understandably his father looking a little bit more frail at 90 years old despite the fact that he recently went skydiving.

And you bring up a very good point, which is that it makes it particularly special on this day, Veterans Day, that the two appeared together, his father having been a vet of World War II.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX (voice-over): It was classic George W. Sitting slouched across from his former chief of staff, Andy Card, in front, his parents, George H.W. and Barbara. President Bush unveiled "41, A Portrait of My Father with Passion, Humor and Humility."

FORMER PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: This is a love story. It's not an objective analysis of President Bush. I wrote it when I did because I wanted dad to be alive. I used to say in these campaigns that I had my daddy's eyes and my mother's mouth and you're learning why I said that.

MALVEAUX: In his book and his speech, Bush took on the stereotypes that his childhood was all roses and his father played it safe.

BUSH: Catch this. So he is at Yale, the gene pool got polluted. Everybody says Wall Street and he moves to Odessa. We get out there and dad finds us a place to live. It's a duplex on Seven Street with one of the few indoor bathrooms on the street. A bathroom we shared with two ladies of the night so much for the silver spoon stuff.

MALVEAUX: He spoke of the unique challenge both faced as wartime commanders in chief.

BUSH: Mother used to call me and say, you need to call your dad. And I'd say why? Because he just read some editorial and he's upset. And so I called him and he said, can you believe what they said about you? I said, Dad, don't worry about it, I'm doing fine.

MALVEAUX: Bush marveled at his father's ability to embrace the man who beat him in 1992, the unique friendship that has developed between H.W. and Bill Clinton, which has turned them into buddies as well.

BUSH: We're the only two baby boomer presidents and we both like retail politics. We're both, you know -- we both can talk a lot. Now we're both grandfathers.

MALVEAUX: But Bush doesn't rule out an epic rematch between the Bush and Clinton families.

BUSH: The idea of Bush/Clinton troubles him which speaks to his great integrity. I said how does this sound Bush, Obama, Bush, Obama, Clinton?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: So Jake, he says that it's a 50/50 chance whether Jeb will actually jump into the race. He said, if he does, the whole family will be out there campaigning and all in and on board -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Suzanne Malveaux, live for us at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library in Texas. Thank you so much.

Coming up, what could go wrong? Bill Cosby turns to Twitter to ask users to come up with some funny sayings using his pictures. Well, the response he got was definitely not what he had in mind. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. The sound you hear, that's the Sugar Hill gang featuring the voice of hip hop pioneer, Henry Jackson better known as Big Bank Hank. We have to sadly report that Jackson passed away this morning from complications of cancer. Big Bank Hank was 57 years old.

Now for our Pop Culture Lead, he is long been considered one of America's all-time favorite TV dads and a pop culture icon that even his sweaters are considered like a thing, but now that some pretty serious allegations from a decade ago have resurfaced, Bill Cosby's brand, the loveable, huggable mega star could be suffering a major hit.

Yesterday, Cosby, or his social media handlers, tried to generate a little buzz by offering the public a change to turn his pictures into internet means on Twitter.

But instead of a good natured using or two, many used the opportunity to call out Cosby for a series of sexual assault allegations against him, 14 allegations, to be precise, all of which he has denied.

Still, the stunts led the captions such as this one, quote, "that feeling you get from being America's most beloved serial rapist." Certainly not what the Cosby team had in mind.

The allegations against Cosby first emerged in 2004. He was never convicted, but Cosby did settle a civil lawsuit with one of his accusers. The scandal seemed to be behind him.

But it was brought back into the spotlight in recent weeks when rumors circulated that he was developing a new show with NBC and when a biography of him was released notably did not mention any of the accusations.

And then comedian, Hannibal Borist took jabs at the Cosby scandal during a recent stand-up show and it went viral.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it was great living Bill Cosby -- you're a rapist, so --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: How big of a hit is this to the Cosby brand? What might this mean for his possible return to TV. Joining me now live to talk about this, are Howard Bragman, the founder of "15 Minutes PR," and Marvet Britto, President and CEO of the Britto agency. Thank you both for being here.

Marvet, let's start with you. You say what happened on social media about Cos doesn't say so much about his brand as it does about the nature of social media. Explain.

MARVET BRITTO, PRESIDENT AND CEO, THE BRITTO AGENCY: I think that we're living in a generation that we are seeing the results of the insatiable appetite that is fueled online. The social media community, it's all about like shares and trending. Everyone does everything they can to seek validation online.

So there comes the personalization and the witty commentary that we often see on pages that is fueled and shared on all towards gaining likes. I think that Bill Cosby and his social team underestimated that desire to gain that credibility and likability online and they used his brand at the expense.

TAPPER: Howard, Cosby has not been convicted of anything. What can he do to change perceptions in this court of public opinion?

HOWARD BRAGMAN, VICE CHAIRMAN, REPUTATION.COM: Well, it's interesting. I feel like he's the guy who took his helmet and put it on the end of his rifle and stuck it in the foxhole to see if the enemy was still there and all of a sudden nuclear rounds were shot at him.

I think right now the best thing he can do is get back in the foxhole and silence is golden for a while. I think you have to have a really long-term strategy to really affect this kind of thing.

I think number one, at some point he's got to be willing to go on air, on the record and say that these charges are not true, this is nothing I would do, number one.

Number two, he's got to be very cautious about where he gets involved right now because the court of public opinion, particularly social media, as Marvet pointed out, has already convicted him whereas the court of law has never found him guilty related to anything related to this. And it's a very tough situation.

TAPPER: And Marvet, the reality of is, the three of us have a relationship with Cosby. He's been entertaining us for decades. But people in their 30s probably don't have a connection to Cosby. You know, they only know him, in some cases, I imagine, from these accusations.

BRITTO: I agree. This is a man who has spent most of his life advocating and championing for the preservation of the black family. So it's unfortunate to see someone who has dedicated his entire career to the advancement of not only comedians but the preservation of black families and the advancement of young, black men in particular.

I think Cosby is unjustly, in my opinion, taking a hit because of the disappointment, but at the same time, what people have to realize, he's made be an investment in this community through scholarships, through advocating and through really putting his money where his mouth is.

I think he has a right to be disappointed in many ways by certain things he sees taking place in the community. But you're right. The younger generation doesn't understand the DNA of Bills Cosby. His legacy will be that he had an aspirational family that many of us grew up worshipping in many ways.

TAPPER: Marvet, you pointed out that he's taken positions that are controversial when it comes to his lectures to the African-American community and that's what he was saying, that Cosby has no right to lecture because, in his view, he's guilty of these accusations. Does Hannibal have a point by taking these political positions?

BRITTO: No, he doesn't have a point. In fact, I'm disappointed in this comedian. I've never heard of him before today. However, I'm quite disappointed because Bill Cosby pioneered for all comedians. He pioneered particularly for Hannible to have a place on the stage and considering he made character assassinations over allegations was quite disappointing.

I think we have to look at the facts, as Howard stated, he wasn't convicted of anything. But yet the court of public opinion is indeed strong and I think we have to look at his life. He has a right to criticize the community that he is largely invested in.

TAPPER: Howard, very quickly, 10 seconds left, is NBC going to pull the plug, do you think, because of this?

BRAGMAN: I think NBC is going to give it some time and really see how social media responds and I think they are going to see how Bill Cosby responds. I agree with Marvet, he's got to be Bill Cosby. He's got the power and the platform to do that. He should continue to be himself.

TAPPER: All right, Howard Bragman, Marvet Britto, thank you so much. That's it for THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper, turning you over to Wolf Blitzer right now in THE SITUATION ROOM.